What Didn't Sit Right About the Doritos Commercial?

I've already spoken at length about the controversial Tim Tebow Super Bowl ad but there was another ad that stuck with me and I just couldn't figure out why. It was one of the many Doritos commercials that were featured during the telecast and it was the one with the little kid who slaps a young man who was courting his mother.

Although I initially found some humor in this particular ad, I found myself thinking there was something deeper about the spot that didn't sit well with me. I couldn't figure it out until I read this post by Jam Donaldson. You can view the ad below (click here if the player doesn't show up) and read some poignant thoughts from Donaldson after the video.



From Donaldson:

"I know, I know, it's only a commercial; they are just meant to be funny. However, with the lack of strong black men on television, eternally single black Mothers, black young men seen as goofy sex-starved slackers and out-of-wedlock bad a** black children, somehow this spot just played in to every aspect of the community that silently haunts us. And then we are supposed to laugh.

All that was missing was the hoochie teenage neighbor, thug life aspiring rapper older brother or the sassy overweight no-nonsense, neck-rolling auntie. These black archetypes are getting so tired. I'm sooooo weary of the single-mom-playboy-man-bad-kid paradigm that seems to dominate our images on TV. And now its being used to sell Dorito's. I almost long for the days of the mean black dad and the coon. At least men were in control of their households. I mean, when a child can get in your face, slap you and you sit looking petrified, how are we to believe the black man is strong and in control of anything? (President Barack Obama, not withstanding)

But on the other hand, there's no real reason why a scenario that takes place every day in the homes of single parents everywhere can't be relayed with a bit of harmless, over-the-top humor. So maybe there's no harm, no foul. It could be me. I don't know. I just feel like it's time for a new breed of stock characters in our pantheon of media representations. Am I being a hypersensitive black person (HBP)? Am I tripping? Am I PMS'ing? I mean, I can't lie, I love me some Dorito's."

This ad demonstrates just one of the many images that are presented to us every day in the media that we may laugh at and not give it a second thought. It could simply be innocent fun or we could be contributing to the perpetuation of damaging stereotypes. Some may even wonder if, as a white man, I'm in any kind of position to even be commenting on this. And maybe they're right. But I do think it's something worth thinking about.

The Media & Its Fascination with Missing White Females

After spending the summer in Michigan two years ago, I was confronted on my return home to Orlando with not only the heat and humidity that August brings in Florida, but also with the media onslaught of yet another missing person case.

I had heard of the story of the missing little girl, Caylee Anthony, while up North, but since her home is just minutes away from my own, our local newspaper and television coverage of the case has been rather extensive. Even without the benefit of cable television and 24-hour news coverage, the drama of the Anthony family seems to constantly be in front of me.

While I have no problem with her extended family getting the word out about her disappearance, I am growing tired of the media's fascination with missing person stories. I certainly wouldn't want to hinder a family from doing whatever it takes to find a missing loved one, but it appears that the media only wants to help with these searches when the missing loved one is a white female (and it doesn't hurt if she's pretty or cute and her family has some money). Sadly, my perception is based in reality.

In a study done a few years ago by Scripps Howard News Service, it was discovered that although whites make up just over half of all missing persons cases, they accounted for 76% of CNN's coverage. Black children, on the other hand, made up only 13% of CNN's coverage of missing individuals although the FBI found that 1/3 of missing children are African American. Hispanic children made up only 9% of CNN's focus, yet were 21% of missing children in a Justice Department study. In addition the reporting on missing boys and men compared to females is woeful.

So why do the sad tales of Laci Peterson and Natalee Holloway and Elizabeth Smart and Madeleine McCann and Caylee Anthony garner so much attention and hardly any of us have heard of someone like Tamika Huston, a young African American woman who was missing for more than a year before her body was found? Her disappearance generated little national media attention and is just one example of a media bias that has even led to the coining of a new phrase, "Missing White Woman Syndrome."

One of the most egregious examples of this would be the case of Jennifer Wilbanks, the woman who got cold feet before her wedding and took off without telling anyone. To make matters worse, she called the police and told them she had been kidnapped by a Hispanic and white women (Of course, this was all a lie). It brings to mind the case from the mid-90's of Susan Smith, who had accused a black man of taking her kids, when she, in fact, had murdered them herself. So not only are people of color not equitably represented in the media when discussing these cases, but they are often wrongly accused by those involved.

As I mentioned previously, I don't fault the families for using all available resources to find those that they care about. I would do the same if I were to be in their position. But I do blame those that report the news for not giving adequate attention to those that have been abducted simply because they aren't white enough, rich enough, feminine enough or pretty enough. It is truly heartbreaking when anyone goes missing and those with the resources and platform to help should do so without discrimination.

There are a number of websites that are seeking to help bring attention to this problem by reporting on under-represented cases of missing people. A couple sites that I found in researching for this post are Black and Missing and Missing Minorities. Check them out to learn more.